Genetic and environmental influences on the positive traits of the values in action classification,and biometric covariance with normal personality

Virtually all human individual differences have been shown to be moderately heritable. Much of this research, however, focuses on measures of dysfunctional behavior and relatively fewer studies have focused on positive traits. The values in action (VIA) project is a comprehensive and ambitious classification of 24 positive traits, also known as character strengths (Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association), the majority of which have received no behavior genetic attention. Using a sample of 336 middle-aged twins drawn from the Minnesota Twin Registry who completed the VIA inventory of strengths, we detected significant genetic and non-shared environmental effects for 21 of 24 character strengths with little evidence of shared environmental contributions. Associations with a previously administered measure of normal personality found moderate phenotypic overlap and that genetic influences on personality traits could account for most, but not all, of the heritable variance in character strengths.     

The interior and the abject: uses and abuses of the female in the middle ages

In this paper I argue that during the High Middle Ages definitions of the female as distinct from the life led by women played a crucial role in defining social boundaries and solidifying new systems of power. I suggest that there were two female figures that were crucial to these definitions: the mother and the virgin. While the mother image was invoked to describe the internal functioning of the Christian community, the virgin metaphor drew the external boundaries and defined the Christian community's relation to the non‐Christian other.     

Affective atmospheres of weapons technologies: The case of battle drones,combat fighters and bodies in contemporary German geopolitics

Using the example of the defense and security sector at the Innovation and Leadership in Aerospace aviation fair in Berlin, this paper interrogates how the presentation of weapons technologies at German security and aviation fairs produces a/effects that influence the body and serve to legitimize political decisions. It examines to what extent the body becomes the site of geopolitical negotiation via affective atmospheres and how different scales interact within this process. First, I argue that affective connections between weapons technologies and spectators are essential for legitimizing warfare technologies. Second, I argue that affects of weapons technologies are subject to ambivalence and ambiguity, and that they are to be understood as entangled with other affects in the same body. Third, I argue that affects become effective across material and spatial scales. Drawing on geographic work on affective atmospheres, debates in intimate geopolitics and feminist science and technology studies, the paper contributes to critical geopolitics by unpacking the role of affective dimensions in naturalizing the development and acquisition of weapons technologies. In doing so, it also contributes to debates on the methodological operationalization of theories of affect and to emotional geographies of (in)security.     

Process, Content, and Feminist Reflexivity: One Researcher's Exploration

This article explores the unraveling of the relationship between research methodology, process, and content as revealed through my own feminist research project. I examine the evolution of my research process with one participant from a larger study, as I sought to better understand a story she told about racism. First, I address the theoretical underpinnings of feminist reflexivity and research, which challenge traditional paradigms. Next, I present the participant's (a white family day care provider's) story about racism in her practice which was revealed during an interview process. Subsequently, I present a second dialogue around the story in which we (researcher and participant) later engaged. In the process, I analyze my struggles, as a researcher trained in positivist methods, to engage in reflexive research methods. Finally, I evaluate the gains made for me as a researcher in the process and content of research conducted with a feminist reflexive frame and suggest their utility in deconstructing White racism.     

Rescher's Metaphilosophy

Books reviewed in this article:
Nicholas Rescher, Philosophical Standardism
Nicholas Rescher, The Strife of Systems
Nicholas Rescher, A System of Pragmatic Idealism. Vol. III, Metaphysical Inquiries     

易学话语与伊斯兰教中国化——论《天方正学》对易学话语的利用问题

明清时期,伊斯兰教汉文著述大量出现,汉语伊斯兰教在很多非基本信仰问题的思考与表述上,表现出明显的中国特色。清代后期,以蒋湘南与蓝曦为代表的伊斯兰教学者,系统利用熟悉的易学资源阐释汉语伊斯兰教思想。其中蓝曦在《天方正学》中,发展了王岱舆、马注等人已经开始的以回释儒的传统,大量利用卦气说、伏羲画卦说、易象说与太极化生宇宙说一套易学话语系统,作为建构汉语伊斯兰教思想的重要资源,这可以看作易学在清代的一个发展。这种情况的出现和中国思想史上格义的传统、易学强大的阐释空间、伊斯兰教思想和中国传统思想本身的沟通之处、汉语伊斯兰教思想明显有苏非气息等因素有关。     

Self-Discrepancy and Mental Health in Older Women with Chronic Illnesses

Self-discrepancy was investigated as a self-enhancing mechanism by which older women maintain their mental health and psychological well-being while coping with declines in physical health. In this 6-year longitudinal study, the mediating and moderating effects of self-discrepancy on mental health outcomes in older women with chronic health problems were tested. Participants were 103 community-dwelling older women who completed multiple, self-report measures of physical and mental health and self-discrepancy. There was a decline in physical health over time but an improvement in self-discrepancies. Low self-discrepancy (i.e., little discrepancy between the actual and ideal self) mediated and moderated the effects of physical health decline on mental health and psychological well-being. Thus, self-discrepancy appears to play a significant role in maintaining mental health in the face of declining physical health in older women.     

论焦循的易学与堪舆学

作为清代乾嘉之际扬州学派代表人物,作为著名易学家,焦循不仅以精研《周易》著称,而且以易学的理论,对传统堪舆学进行了认真的考辨和分析,语多精谛。特别是对明清两代广泛流行的堪舆之学,从学理上作了深入的批判,这在清代乾嘉之际的学术界,可谓空谷足音,对我们今天研究焦循的易学思想,其中不乏积极的学术启发意义。     

从帛书《易传》析述孔子晚年的学术思想

本文以帛书《易传》比对《论语》中关涉《周易》的章节,从而确定这些章节是属于孔子晚年所说的话。此外,从帛书《易传》所见的哲理,-显示了晚年的孔子已经具有哲学家的形态。关心形而上的问题,并且对这些哲学问题有很深的体会。孔子说《易》,开辟了以义理研究《易经》的新途,亦展示了一个学术发展的转折点,即儒家的道德形而上学以孔子为开山。     

张惠言的词学与易学

张惠言是常州词派的开派领袖,但更是深通易学尤其是虞氏易的古文经学家,这一特殊身份决定着他的词学不可避免地带有易学的印记。他释词为“意内言外”来自汉代易学家孟喜对易之卦爻辞的解释,对唐宋词的解读注重探究其中的微言大义,则是虞氏“发挥旁通”、“贯穿比附”说易方法的直接运用,而他概括词的特征为“缘情造端,兴于微言”,也是明显地受《易·系辞》对《周易》文本特征描述的启发。从现代解释学的观点来看,张惠言以比兴寄托说词过于偏重作者原意的搜寻,只看到文学作品中形象与寓意之间的对应关系,其实形象与寓意之间不只是简单的比附关系而应该是相融无间无法拆解的,所以常州派的传人周济特别重视作品中艺术形象的创造,将“意内言外”之意由张氏所指向的作者之意转换为读者之意,在文学批评活动中重视读者对文本的阐释,较之张氏所论更为符合艺术鉴赏的审美规律。